Avalon High: Will's POV
by swisstastiicxx
Summary: As the title states, Avalon High told in the good guy's point of view. I'm not a guy myself, so I don't really know how they think, but I figured it's time someone finally writes one of these things.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: I apologize for the wait. Here is the book "Avalon High" (by Meg Cabot) told in A. William Wagner's point of view! (I've always wanted one of these, but since everyone else is clearly too lazy to write one, even though they like them too, then I'll write my own.)

A/N 2: You may see some similarities between the chapters of this story and Meg Cabot's book "Avalon High." I own none of it (I wish I did).

Avalon High: Will's POV – Chapter 1

"You know you're lucky, right?"

You can trust Lance Reynolds to see things that way. He's a guard on the football team, and he loves sailing, like I do.

But I'm not like that. I'm practical.

"Come on, Will," Lance said. He's my best friend. "So what if your dad wants you to attend the Academy? It's not a bad thing at all. Not many people go, anyway. It's a good thing."

Of course it's a good thing. He (both Lance and my dad) just overlooked the fact that maybe I don't _want _to go.

But there's no point in telling that to my dad. I did, and he just about freaked out. For me, attending the Naval Academy is the _only _option.

So I decided not to mention this fact to them.

"I'm going to go watch the games people are playing there," Lance told me, gesturing towards the fields where people at Anne Arundel Park in Annapolis, Maryland, were playing sports. "Want to come?"

"No thanks," I declined the offer.

"I'll go," Jennifer Gold, my girlfriend, offered. She smiled at both of us.

"Alright. I'll see you two soon." I watched them leave before leaving myself.

I passed the "Welcome to the Anne Arundel County Arboretum" sign into the forest in the park. I always went down towards the bottom of the ravine and sat on the huge rock there to think.

There's a secret shortcut there—if you pass by one of the particularly large trees with the small strip of bark shaped like a triangle hanging off it, there's a small space there where, if you duck, you can get down the path to the ravine pretty much unscathed.

So I went there, because that's where I often go to think.

I turned on my iPod and sat there, listening to the troubadour love ballads from medieval times. I don't why, but I'd always had a fascination for things to do with the medieval times. When I was younger, I always liked drawing knights in shining armor, castles, drawbridges, moats, and all that. Now I'm not nearly as interested, but, for some reason, I liked these songs.

Lance and Jen didn't know. And they wouldn't find out anytime soon, either. Lance would tease me to death and Jen would just add that bit of info to her list of reasons why she thinks I'm weird (it's a mental list, but I can tell it's getting pretty long already. The list started when I wanted to quit the football team to join the debate team. I suggested this to Jen, and she just looked at me like she was shocked and horrified, and like I was kidding. The sad part was, I really wasn't kidding).

Anyway, I usually think about my life. About my dad, who wants me to go to the Academy, my stepmom, Jean, Marco, my stepbrother, and the whole deal with my dad supposedly killing Marco's real dad.

My life seems seriously screwed up sometimes.

After a while, just sitting there, I thought I heard some rustling coming from the forest above the ravine, like someone was trying to get down. After a few minutes, I looked back up to check and see if anyone was there.

No one was.

It must have been my imagination.

Well, I decided to go find Lance and Jen, so I walked back up the hidden path out of the ravine, and I walked towards the sports fields.

I found them—they were arguing about something.

"Hey!" I called, speeding up. They both immediately stopped talking and looked at me in this sort of guilty way.

"Let's get out of here," I suggested, ignoring their strange behavior.

"Right with you," Lance agreed.

We were walking towards the parking lot when I saw her.

She was this really tall girl—only not as tall as me—with brown hair. She looked like the type of person who would just blend in with the crowd. She had headphones stuck in her ears, and she was running—she was probably one of the joggers.

She would have been described as ordinary by anybody else, but she just seemed to stick out, for me. I don't know why. She looked familiar, even though it was clear I'd never seen her before in my life. Because somehow, I knew that if I saw her before, I would have remembered her.

Don't ask me why, because I don't _know _why.

Lance and Jen were still arguing about something, but I didn't hear them. When she passed by, I smiled at her.

I don't know why I smiled at her, either. The corners of my mouth just kind of quirked up of their own will. I didn't make them do it.

She glanced at me and smiled back.

And for some reason, I kept on hoping to see her again.

Which is very confusing, considering I've only seen her once and smiled at her… and nothing else.

A/N: OK, that's the first chapter—in the book "Avalon High" that was the first two chapters. I'm not a guy (I bet you can tell from my pen name) so I really don't know how they act, and how their minds work, and all that. So I'm sorry if he doesn't act like an ordinary, popular teenage good guy.

Please review!

SR


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Here is the update. Sorry it took so long, but I do have a life, you know. I'd like to say thanks for the six reviews:D And I don't give out review replies, so I didn't miss you or anything if you reviewed.

Avalon High: Will's POV – Chapter 2

The second time I saw her was in school.

I guess she was new. I mean, I'm the senior class president, and a quarterback on the football team, which basically translates to popular. So I pretty much knew who everyone in the school was. And the first time I saw her was that day in the park. Well, she had seemed familiar, which was strange, even though I had never met her before, but still…

Well, anyway, she looked about my age, so I was pretty sure she was a new girl.

Sure enough, I was walking to my next class with Jen, and I saw her. She was looking around frantically—a sure sign that she was new. It was clear she didn't know where she was supposed to go for her next class.

She was just looking down at her schedule when I walked by her. At that moment, she looked up at me.

"Hey," I greeted her, smiling really brightly.

I usually don't do that. Go around smiling and saying "Hey" to everyone I pass in the hall that makes eye contact with me, I mean. But I just felt… compelled to do it, or something.

She looked like she was going to say something, but just then, Jen tugged on my sleeve and replied to what I had said to her before I'd just went "Hey" at the new girl, "But I told Lance we'd meet him at the DQ after practice."

So I just went and put my arm around her (look—she's my girlfriend, ok?) and said, "Sure, that sounds great."

So we left.

I couldn't stop thinking about her—the new girl, I mean. I don't know why. I still have an odd sense of… well, it's kind of like déjà vu, only way different. Like I just knew her or something. I would even go as far to say that we knew each other in a past life.

But then I don't believe in spiritual stuff like that—reincarnation and all that.

At lunch, when Jen went off to chat about something with Lance, I took out the student guide that they always give you at the beginning of a new school year and looked her picture up.

Her name was Elaine Harrison, and she liked track and floating in her pool. Or something like that. She liked to be called Ellie. And yup, she was new.

I don't know why I did it then. But I just did. I went to a pay phone nearby and called the operator and asked for her information.

I just did it because I wanted to know a little more about her—you would probably do the same if you met someone whom you felt you knew for your entire life, even if you'd never met them before. I did _not _do it because I was interested in her romantically, ok? (A/N: I sense some denial going on here… hehe, sorry, I'll shut up now.)

I got her address and hung up.

Later on that day, I cancelled plans with meeting Lance and Jen at Dairy Queen. I told them I was busy… and that wasn't a lie. Kind of, anyway.

Shut up, you stupid guilty conscience.

Luckily, they didn't question it. For some reason, I had some weird nagging feeling in the back of my mind telling me something was wrong with them, but I ignored it and set out for the address of Elaine Harrison's house.

I'll admit it, I felt kind of stupid doing what I was doing. I had only seen her twice, and smiled at her. And she smiled at me too. But she probably didn't even remember me. She probably didn't know who I was. And she would probably freak to find a total stranger go to her house and say hi to her.

But I _had _to investigate this weird feeling I got around her. Maybe she felt the same way… hey, it can't hurt to check, right?

I knocked on their front door. The door was opened by a man. He saw me and smiled brightly at me. This was probably her dad. "Hello," he said. "Who are you?"

"Um…" I said, suddenly feeling self-conscious, for some reason. "I'm a friend of your daughter's," I began, stretching the truth quite a bit. "Could I see her?"

"So she made new friends?" The man smiled this really big smile. "Sure. She's out in the back. Come on in. You can go see her through the back door."

I thanked her dad and walked into their house. It was a nice house… and that's all I'll say about it. I thanked her dad again—who just grinned and pointed me in the right direction—he seemed much nicer than my own dad—and walked into the backyard, where the pool was. She was there, floating in her pool on one of those floating device things, her eyes closed. I finally decided to go stand on top of the large rock—practically a boulder—near the pool and I just stood there, wondering what I should say.

Before I could decide anything, however, her eyes opened. She saw me standing there and screamed.

I couldn't say I blamed her. There she was, all alone in her backyard, floating in her pool and minding her own business, when she opens her eyes and finds a total stranger standing near her, watching her. I would probably do the same thing. Be surprised, I mean. Not scream.

"Oh, sorry," I quickly apologized, hoping she wasn't mad at me for frightening her or anything. "I didn't mean to scare you."

"Wh-what are you doing here?" she sputtered out, still looking shocked. She was staring up at me with wide eyes.

"Uh," I tried to explain, feeling even more self-conscious now. "I knocked. Your dad said you were out here, and let me in. Is this a bad time? I can come back, if it is."

She just continued staring up at me, still looking completely dumbfounded. "How—how do you know where I live?" she finally asked incredulously. "How do you even know who I am?"

"Student guide," I explained, omitting to reveal the part about calling the operator. Then, sensing her discomfort, I added quickly, "Look, I'm sorry if I startled you. I didn't mean to. I just thought…" I hesitated. The feeling probably wasn't mutual, anyway. "… well, never mind. You know what? I was wrong."

"Wrong about what?" she asked.

"Nothing," I quickly told her. "I just—I mean, you smiled at me that day in the park like…"

"Like what?" she asked, staring at me with some sort of unreadable expression on her face.

I felt incredibly embarrassed now. I was so _stupid _sometimes. What was I thinking, coming to her house—practically a virtual stranger—and babbling nonsense about knowing her or whatever? "Look, never mind," I said. "It's stupid. When I saw you—first in the park, and then again today, it just seemed like… I don't know. That we'd met before, or something." Even though the idea was preposterous, it still felt good to get that off my chest. "But we haven't, obviously. I mean, I can see that now. I'm Will, by the way, Will Wagner." I felt like I should introduce myself. Well, yeah. I'd just shown up at her house with no warning whatsoever… I should at least tell her my name. And yes, I was babbling again.

"I'm Ellie," she introduced herself to me. "Ellie Harrison." I decided not to tell her that I already knew this. "But then… I guess you knew that."

Well, then that idea could be thrown out the window. I couldn't help grinning a little at the thought. "Pretty much," I agreed.

"I just moved here," Ellie said hesitantly, as if she were afraid I would do something drastic, or whatever. Not that I would. Do something drastic, I mean. "From St. Paul. I've never been to the East Coast before. So I don't know how we could have met before. Unless… you've been to St. Paul?" She looked at me sort of uncertainly.

"No," I disagreed, still grinning like a stupid idiot. (Which I guess I was. Because I thought I'd known her, when it was clear I'd never met her before in my life.) "Never been there. Look, really, forget I said anything. Things have been really weird lately, and I guess I just…" I couldn't help feeling a bit annoyed at the though of my dad and Marco and all that, and my feelings must have reflected on my face, because Ellie looked at me, looking sort of alarmed.

I quickly shook off the feeling and shrugged. "Seriously, don't worry about it. I'll see you in school."

I turned around and was just about to go when she said quickly, "Wait…"

I turned around, wondering what she had to say. My heart gave a sort of lurch when she told me to wait. Then I quickly shook off this feeling as well and chastised myself. _You idiot! You already have a girlfriend! Stop it! It's just those damn teenage hormones or something, and nothing more…_

Ellie looked like she was fishing for words—something to say, like she had only called me because she didn't want me to leave—when a woman who I assumed was her mom called down from the deck, "Ellie, would your friend like to borrow a suit and go for a swim, too? I'm sure one of Geoff's would fit him." I guess Geoff was an older brother, or something. He was probably in college.

Ellie looked embarrassed, like, _Mom, this is a really popular guy, not just an old friend or something. You're embarrassing me_, and said, rolling her eyes apologetically at me, "Uh, no, Mom, we're ok."

"Actually," I cut in quickly, "a swim might be nice."

I don't know why I said that. But I had to admit, I really wouldn't mind spending some time with Ellie Harrison. Because I liked her.

In a strictly platonic way, of course.

(A/N: I was going to stop here, because that's a nice ending line, but I'll continue… it's a long chapter! Thank your lucky stars! Haha, just kidding. But seriously, all joking aside… moving on!)

I went back into the house. Ellie's mom introduced herself to me: "Hi, I'm Ellie's mom."

"I'm Will Wagner," I told her, smiling.

She smiled back and said something. Unless my ears were deceiving me, she seemed to be quoting a poem: " 'His broad clear brow in sunlight glow'd,' " she said in a sort of reminiscing voice.

It sounded familiar, but I wasn't sure exactly where to place it.

I just sort of smiled nervously back at her and changed into a pair of swim trunks that Ellie's mom gave me. I got a towel, and then, before I left, her mom gave me two glasses of lemonade. I thanked her and went back out into the pool.

"Free, fast delivery," I joked, winking and handing her a glass of lemonade.

"Oh my god," she said, staring at me in shock. Before I could respond, she asked, "Did she… did she _talk _to you?"

"Who?" I asked, leaning over another raft in the pool. "Your mom? Yeah. She's nice. What is she, a writer or something?"

"Professor," Ellie explained. "Both of them."

"Oh, well, that would explain it," I said lightly, referring to the poem Mrs. Harrison had quoted.

"Explain what?" Ellie demanded, looking annoyed. I guess her mom embarrasses her sometimes.

"Your mom quoted some poem after I introduced myself," I explained. "Something about a broad, clear brow."

Her eyebrows knitted together almost nervously. " 'His broad clear brow in sunlight glow'd?' " she asked.

"Yeah," I confirmed. "That's it. What was that about?"

"Nothing," Ellie replied, giving off the impression she very much wanted to strangle her mother or something. I could practically see her mental list: _List of Things I, Ellie Harrison, Should Do Once Will Wagner Leaves My House: 1. Kill Mom_. "It's a line from a poem she likes: _The Lady of Shalott_. Tennyson. She's taking the year off from teaching to write a book on Elaine of Astolat. It's making her a little crazier than usual."

I didn't think it was crazy, and I told her so. "That must be cool," I objected. "To have parents who talk about poetry and books and stuff."

"Oh, you have no idea," Ellie responded dryly, totally deadpan.

"How's the rest of it go?" I asked her.

"The rest of what?" I had a feeling she knew what I was talking about, but didn't really want to tell me. Still, I pressed on. "The poem," I explained.

I could just see an imaginary pencil penning down number two on her mental list. _2. Remember to kill Mom in the most horrific, grotesque, and grisly way possible. Castrate her very slowly to death. _I couldn't help grinning again at that thought.

She closed her eyes in a sort of pained way before opening them again and reciting, obviously from memory after hearing it dozens and dozens of times, " 'His broad clear brow in sunlight glow'd/On burnish'd hooves his war-horse trode/From underneath his helmet flow'd/His coal-black curls as on he rode/As he rode down to Camelot,' " she finished, then continuing to speak, "It's a very lame poem. She dies at the end, floating in a boat. Weren't you supposed to meet some people at Dairy Queen after practice today?"

I had been thinking about the poem she had just quoted but her last statement was enough to startle me out of my thoughts. "I guess so," I answered her question. "How'd you know about that?"

"Because I heard Jennifer ask you about it when I saw you today in the hallway at school. She's your girlfriend, right?"

I couldn't believe it. _She had remembered! _A sort of joyous feeling leaped in my chest, like it was a big deal that Ellie Harrison had remembered something that happened in my life, but I quickly squashed it. I did _not _like Ellie Harrison, I told myself sternly. I already had a girlfriend!

And how had she known who Jennifer was? She must have looked us up!

Before any other… uh, inappropriate or kind of unfaithful-to-Jen thoughts popped up in my head, I quickly answered Ellie's question.

"Yeah. Going on two years."

She opened her mouth to ask another question—probably about why I was here instead of meeting Jen and Lance—but I cut her off. I couldn't—didn't want to—explain why. "Don't," I said.

Ellie blinked at me. "Don't what?" she questioned.

"Don't ask me what I'm doing in your pool instead of hers," I said. "Because I honestly don't know. Let's talk about something else, ok?"

She looked like she wanted to know if I was psychic or something, but instead she asked me, "What exactly were you doing in the ravine the first day I saw you?"

To which I replied, "Oh. I don't know. I just end up there sometimes." I was surprised she was asking, and surprised that she saw me there too, as well as in the parking lot at Anne Arundel County Park.

Ellie looked as if she suspected me of being mentally unstable, but she didn't voice her suspicions out loud.

I soon found that I could talk to Ellie about almost anything—and believe me, this was a big thing, considering the fact that now was really the only time I spoke to her—going "Hey" in the halls at school doesn't count—and I couldn't even tell some of this stuff to Jen without her not understanding.

I asked her about St. Paul, and what she was doing here, and about my dad and the Naval Academy, and about Lance, and Mr. Morton, one of the teachers at school, and all that.

I just didn't bring up the topic of Jen.

I don't know why. Maybe I was afraid that I would sort of…

Never mind. Forget it. Forget I said anything, ok?

Anyway, we were still talking when Mrs. Harrison came out on the deck in their backyard and announced, "We have Thai food. Would you like to stay, Will?"

"I'd love to," I agreed, completely honestly.

We went back into the house. I helped set the table, and clear it afterwards, and I ate all the leftover food—hey, I was hungry, ok? Besides, her dad looked incredibly impressed by the amount of leftover food I consumed. And I _like _Thai food. So sue me.

Her cat's name was Tig—short for Tigger, the name she had given her cat at the age of eight. I just sort of grinned and told her about Cavalier, my dog. (Don't ask me where I got the name "Cavalier." The name just sort of popped in my head and stuck. Yes, I know it's stupid. No, you are not permitted to make a comment or say anything about it.)

I told her and her family stories about Cavalier, and I learned more about the Harrison family. I learned about her professors-on-sabbatical parents, and her dad told me about the sword he was studying, and her mom recited more verses of "The Lady of Shalott."

I laughed especially hard at the Great Snake Rescue, as she called it, about the time she had to rescue a snake (hence the name of the Great Snake Rescue) from her pool, because her mom would probably chop its head off and because she said her dad was too wimpy (her dad mock glared at this).

It was nice, really, how she could joke around with her family like that. I definitely wouldn't be able to do it. My dad and Jean, my stepmom, wouldn't really laugh—my dad would probably just look at me all disapprovingly-like—and Marco's idea of a good joke is actually rather crude and can be nasty.

After all that, I said good-bye. I thanked her parents for dinner, and I called them "sir" and "ma'am," which Ellie cracked up at, and left, but not before saying, "See you tomorrow, Elle."

She just sort of seemed like an "Elle" to me, and not an "Ellie." Don't ask me why, because I don't know. But she really did.

As I walked home, the feeling that I had known Ellie—or Elle—intensified. It was kind of annoying, really, because I _know _I had never met her in my life before.

But that was kind of nice. I liked having dinner with Ellie and her parents.

And I was only interested in her in a strictly platonic way, of course.

And no, I am _not _in denial.

A/N: Yay, they finally talk! LOL. Please review! This took me almost an hour to type and then look over. So review!

SR


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